The final days

Our second to last day in America we spent exploring Ogden and its surrounding areas. The day started with an hour car journey, traveling up to a BSA area. The aim of this activity was to build team work within our group of scouts. The first team building exercise we had to carry out was where you had to pass a basket ball along the line just using your elbows plus, at the same time, you had to pass a tennis ball down the line just using your chin. It was proven to be an extremely challenging activity that had to have a lot of thought to complete. Once we had managed to pass both balls successfully down the line, we moved up the field to a more energetic exercise of chase. Following our game of chase we all played a trust building exercise. The group, plus leaders, all formed a tight circle with one person in the middle. The person then had to close his eyes, put his feet together and fall into the people who are forming the circle. The idea of the game was to trust each other to hold you up instead of letting you fall. It did prove to be a very useful exercise in building your trust with each other. The activities after lunch started took a step up. We had to push our selfs to much higher limits, over come our fears and trust the person on the ground. These activities included a high wire course, a high walking beam, a extremely fast zip wire plus many more exercises of team building. The whole visit to this place was proved to be a great success, with every body enjoying them selfs.

After we were finished with our first main activity for the day, we loaded in the cars and headed down for a bathe in the Great Salt Lake. All the British, including myself, were complaining about the distance that we had to walk to reach the salty water, with the hot sand not helping. The lake was such a refreshing break from the heat of the day. Everybody was glad to have a dip in the water, making the day even better. Once we were called to come out the water, it was time for a nice warm shower only lasting four minutes to wash off all the salt that had collected, plus load up ready for the journey down to the all you can eat buffet.

The buffet consisted of all kinds of Chinese food, including fortune cookies. The main course was a mixture of chicken pieces, noodles, shrimp and much more. The desert consisted of many kinds of cake, plus ice cream with a mixture of mixes. Leaving the restaurant, it was clear that every body had stuffed them selves full ready for the Raptor's baseball game ahead.

Watching the Raptor's was the final activity of the day. Many of the group had not seen a baseball game before so it was a first for them. A very good first as the team we were meant to be cheering for won, with a stunning home run. Although it was a long day, it was an amazing day seeing the baseball game, as well as laying in the Great Salt Lake. Great memories of this great trip.

Wednesday. Today consisted of a tour round the local jail, along with a tour of an archery warehouse. The afternoon consisted of a shopping visit round Logan as well as clay peigion shooting at the range. The evening was simply amazing. The leaving party. This was the main thing of the day as another successful scout exchange comes to a close. There have been some great memories that wont be forgetten and some new friends made that we will keep in contact thanks to Facebook. A huge thank you to all every body that has made this fantastic trip possible, plus all the host families for hosting. I am positive that we have had an amazing three weeks here in the States.

Keiran watching Joe trying to bust a clay pigeon.

Ella showing the guys how its done.

Salt Lake City

Today we headed down to Salt Lake City which is the capital of Utah. The day started with a tour round the LDS conference center. We started the tour at the main conference room which was spectacular. The thing that most struck me was the size and the capacity that it held was just amazing, plus the short space of time that the building was built and furnished in. We got told that the key to this was the builders always had a supply of materials so that meant they were never waiting for materials to arrive. The second location that we visited was the Church Office Building. Here we were lucky enough to get the elevator to the top floor instead of walking up 26 flights of stairs. At the top we got to see the stunning view's across the whole city. It was simply stunning.

Following this it was a fairly long walk down to the O2 news studios. In my opinion, I found this most interesting as I found out how much work and effort goes in to just one news show. The tour guide showed us round the whole studio, before showing us a news show in action. After we had spent time touring round the studio, we all climbed aboard the tram to take us back to the car's where our lunch was waiting for us. Lunch was a perfect time to rest our legs after a morning of walking.

Following lunch we headed out to the Genealogy Center where we could attempt to find our ancestors. Some of the group had much better luck then others as some didn't even find a trace. Still, it was an extremely interesting activity to do.

The last thing to do before heading home was to go shopping. This was the part everybody was looking forward to as you could easily buy gifts like build a bear. As shopping came to a close it was time to head back to the cars and head for home stopping on the way to buy a huge soda, which was a perfect end to a perfect day.

(Randy Martin update) I have to add that Kingsley is an extremely accomodating young man. He let my daughter Megan and her friend Ellie paint his finger nails - see photo.

Megan, Kingsley, and Ellie.

Lagoon

Today was simply brilliant. The journey to the park took just over an hour, which was an average time for anywhere in America. Once we arrived we joined up with the rest of our group and headed to the pavilion which would be our meeting point, plus our location for our lunch. Our group headed out to, exploring the park and experiencing the different variety of rides. The rides varied to the slow and steady rapids, to the more twisting Collosus. There was a couple of rides that were in the park that you had to pay extra money for which included Catapult and a pendulum swing. Even though that most of our group did not go on these rides, there was plenty of other rides to complete. In my opinion some of the best rides that I went on were Samurai. This was were you were sat in rows and as the hole ride span round, so did your row resulting in you getting extremely dizzy. Another amazing ride that I went on was Collosus which was a rollarcoaster with two hole loops in. I believe that everybody in the group enjoyed the day out at Lagoon.

Tomorrow we are planning to head down to Salt Lake city which will be an ideal change to complete some shopping.

Rafting and Host Families

After we had spent the night sleeping in a conference room we had to be up early Thursday morning for our rafting trip. Once the group had completed having breakfast and packing there sleeping bags away, we loaded the car and headed out to the snake river which only took around half an hour. The journey to the snake river was a considerably short one, compared to the journey that we would be taking back to Logan later on in the day. It wasn't long before we started our trip down the river, however our guide had to hand out the necessary safety gear as well as a safety talk. Our group managed to all squeeze ourselves into only one raft. If you had not got wet before Big Kahuna (The biggest rapid in the snake river) then after you would be soaked. Most of our boat had got submerged in the ice cold water then returning with every body soaked but still had a smile on their faces. Every body that rode in the boat had a great experience, plus it was a first for many including myself.

Following rafting we all were delighted to get a warm change of clothes and back into a nice warm car for the journey back to Logan. This journey dragged on for four and a half hours - a good time to catch up sleep from the previous evening.

That evening and the following two days consisted of host family days. Again I am unsure what other families had planned, but Friday me and my host went down to the recreation center. Here we played some basketball, plus spending some time in the gym. Following this the family went to the local fair. Here there was all sort's of stalls plus different rides which we happily went on. Lastly we all went to watch Ryan play in a American football game. This I found really interesting, but found the rules really confusing.

This morning me and my family were up early to help out Mark with his eagle project which consisted of pulling weeds out the edge of the pond so the car park could be extended as well as stones out around the base. After we had completed a few hours of work, we headed out a local restaurant to have whats locally known as the "a kitchen sink". This was a small sink of ice cream. Myself, Garrett and Ryan managed to eat it in 17 minutes however we had stomach ache after. We spend the afternoon going round a crazy golf course which was great fun.

Tomorrow the troop are heading out to a theme park name Lagoon. This will be great fun for everyone. I am sure that the group are looking forward to experiencing an american theme park.

Rafting and Host Families

After spending the night in a conference room of a hotel, we had all got woken early Thursday morning to head out the the snake river for our rafting experience. The journey to the river was surprisingly short compared to the future journey back to Logan. Once we had arrived we all got kitted up with our necessary safety gear as well as a safety talk from our very well trained guide, before loading up the raft. Starting our journey down the river didn't seem to bad to begin with, however it soon became a challenge to keep yourself warm as the ice cold water splashed up from the rapids. If you had not got wet before the rapid named Big Kahuna which is the largest rapid in our tour. The majority of the boat was submerged in the rapid until we returned all soaked. However, even though we were soaked, cold and extremely tired from paddling we had throughly enjoyed ourselves. After completing our rafting we all got into our cars and were looking forward to our

Finally...Catching Up

Greetings all parents, relatives and friends. Randy Martin here. After a week and a half at Camp Loll and Yellowstone National Park, we've finally arrived back at the Cache Valley. During our adventure Paul S. had the scouts write entries for the blog - they follow below, along with a few pictures....

Wednesday 4th August (by Joe Metland)
Today the older Scouts and Paul hiked to Survey Peak. The experience was tiring but satisfying. We hiked 16 miles. This is not the furthest I have hiked but was the most exhausting as the terrain as well as elevation was a lot different. There were no trails to follow and the hike had to be done via bushwhacking following a compass bearing. At the top we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains, valleys and basins. Among these were the Grand Tetons which still had snow on them. We were told where we were still had snow less than three weeks ago. We also had lunch which was a lot more rewarding than usual. The walk back was even more tiring despite being downhill most of the way. On the way back we stopped at Phantom Falls. Throwing a hat off the side would result in it coming back due to an updraft which came up the cliff face. Each person drank over three litres of water due to the heat. The younger Scouts went on a much shorter hike.
We were all supposed to go on an overnight canoe trip, but all of us (except Fred who did go) were too tired. Instead we concocted the finest brew of root beer which had been suggested by one of the staff who also got the ingredients. This involved mixing dry ice, sugar and root beer abstract to four gallons of water. We then sold this off at $1 a cup and made a slight profit!
We then went to a campfire where we did a sketch, a song and a yell before going to bed.


Thursday 5th August (by Kieran Whitehead)
I got woken up early by Kingsley saying there was a bear outside the tent. I said of course and went back to bed! Later on that day we were informed by the Yellowstone Park Ranger that a bear had been positively sited within Camp Loll for the first time since 1993. During our ACE (Advanced Camper Experience) programme we went bouldering which involved climbing over rocks and exploring caves. In one, where we had to climb down into the cave, we managed to get 14 of us in. As we were climbing out of the cave a large rock fell and hit one of the American Scouts on the head. As he got out a large amount of blood was running out of his head and down his face and t-shirt. Joe Metland was next to him and took off his t-shirt and applied pressure to the wound. After Ben (the camp staff member in charge) had stabilised the Scout he tried unsuccessfully to contact camp. Ben, Kingsley and I ran back to camp (about two miles) in order to get transport to get the Scout back to camp. The Scout got taken to hospital and had to have five staples in his head.
In the afternoon we worked on our Trading Post merit badge which involved chatting up the girls in the Trading Post!
In the evening we played the camp wide highland games which involved playing traditional Scottish games such as tug-of-war, tossing the caber, etc.
Additional: We later learnt that the rock fall happened at the same time there had been an earthquake in the Jackson Hole area and that the tremors had also been felt in the Yellowstone area.

Friday 6th August (by Fred Webb)
On Friday I took part in the camp Flag Ceremony when I had to break the flag in front of the whole camp (about 200 people).
In the morning I did leatherwork, woodwork and rifle shooting. After lunch we did a service project that involved making stairs up around the back of the campfire area. Earlier in the week I had refurbished a camp sign along with Alex.
During free time I did the Polar Bear challenge that involved sitting under a waterfall for ten seconds. The water was only 45°F due to the water coming from a glacier. I then went back to finish my rifle shooting merit badge. Bryan the instructor wanted to make sure I passed so let me and Corbin my host Scout stay for an extra session in order that I could finish the requirements. To do this he let me use the scope.
In the evening when we went to campfire they had lots of sketches and songs which were humorous. Before Paul let the English Scouts go to bed he made us do a presentation to the Camp Loll staff. We gave out t-shirts, badges and Scout coins as well as a further batch of root beer that we had made.
Additional: During the day Rob fell over and had to go to hospital. He came back later with bandages and a brace for his wrist but no broken bones.

Saturday 7th August (by Alex Silvester)
No entry (yet)!

Travel from Camp Loll to Yellowstone


Sunday 8th August (by Kingsley Standen)
As it was my birthday Paul delegated me to write the blog. One of the waiters at the lodge decided to put a candle on my breakfast which consisted of a sausage burger and a pancake and everyone sang me happy birthday.
Before we set off we had to sought all our laundry out as our first port of call was a Laundromat. Once we had dropped our laundry off we headed out to the Buffalo Bill Historic Centre to take photos. For lunch Paul said we were going to a park to eat sandwiches which actually turned out to be a surprise party at a Pizza Hut. Not having had a restaurant type meal for a few days we all took advantage of the all you can eat buffet.
Following this we spent the afternoon touring the Buffalo Bill Historic Centre, whilst Tom and Nick kindly collected the laundry. There were five different museums here which included a gun museum, a museum on Yellowstone, one on Indians, an art museum and one on the Wild West.
On our journey returning to the lodge we asked Tom to stop at Walmart to collect supplies for our planned party. Unbeknown to us he was planning to stop anyway to pick up a specially made cake he had ordered and so Paul could pick up a card. Once we returned to the lodge I was kept busy whilst everyone signed the card and the cake was prepared. Just before dinner the card was handed to me as well as the cake which I had to cut.
We then had dinner which was steak and potato salad. Straight after dinner we went to the lodge to play pool before returning to our rooms for a birthday party.

Monday 9th August (by Ella Warren)
This morning we all woke up with full up bladders from drinking too much soda the night before. We had breakfast and got ready to go horse riding. We all enjoyed the riding which took two hours and went through the mountains. When we got back we munched on lunch. Then we got ready to go on a hike in Yellowstone National Park but due to Buffalo on the road slowing traffic down we got there late by which time it was raining. We stopped at several viewpoints including the Lower and Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. We didn’t mind the extra long journeys due to some banging tunes in the car.

Tuesday 10th August (by Robert Wright)
Today we went to Old Faithful which is the most famous geyser and most predictable as to when it is going to erupt. It erupts approximately every 90 minutes. It seemed less impressive than we were hoping for. It usually reaches between 108 & 180 feet but seemed to struggle to reach 100 feet when we saw it. Also in the park we saw Coyotes, Elk and Buffalo which thankfully were not on the road delaying us today. We also went to see some mud volcanoes which were small little geysers of mud which smelt like eggy farts.
In the afternoon we went to the Firehole River where we spent an hour swimming and floating down some rapids.

A wood cutting service project at Creekside Lodge

Ella & Kingsley on horseback

Our lodge (Creekside Lodge) just outside Yellowstone Park

Buffalo Bill Museum - Cody, WY

Jumping into the rapids of the Firehole River - Yellowstone National Park

Another bison in the road, holding up traffic - Yellowstone National Park

At the Lower falls of the Yellowstone River

Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park

At the entrance to Yellowstone National Park

David trying to be a cowboy

Rock climbing at Camp Loll

Fred working on crafts Camp Loll

More from Camp Loll

Computers are computers and sometimes things don't get transferred smoothly....Stu was finally able to relay some verbiage written by some of the UK scouts (and some more pictures thanks to Stu), so here you go...

Monday, August 2

By Robert Wright

Got up early at 4:30 am in order to leave for Camp Loll on the border of West Yellowstone and the Tetons. We arrived at about 11:30 am after a long journey, although we did watch Kung Fu Panda in Tom’s car video player.

We set up the tents, although Dan forgot ours, so we had to borrow from one from Omar, one of the Troop 1 leaders. We had a Swim Check in the ice cold lake but it was so cold, none of us are going back there! We then had to make merit badge choices.

We had dinner (beef stew) which looked like dog/cat food. We then had a camp flag ceremony which involved a lot of singing before having a camp fire.



Tuesday, August 3

By Alex Silvester

Today we woke up at 6:30 am to have a lovely breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Then we had to get ready for an inspection. At the inspection we got a bead for our leather patches for being at the opening campfire. After that, we had to go to the flag break. Straight after we were told to go to our merit badges, some of our group went to the ACE activities (ACE stands for Advance Camper Experience).

In my first class, we learned Wilderness Survival. On the next class, I did Small Boat Sailing. We learned the parts of the boats and how to change sails. We had a bad thing happen as the instructor tipped the boat over by accident. We got rescued in the motor boat and got to the dock safely. After that, I had to cook lunch that was grilled cheese sandwiches. They were nice! After lunch, we had free time where me and Fred made a new sign for our campsite with wood and leather. We have earned our white bead! After dinner, we had our English colours down.

Eating the aforementioned dog/cat food.

Joe cooking some potatoes (I think?)

Cooking breakfast

A Bit of Blog from Camp Loll

Assistant Scoutmaster Stu Parkinson spent the first couple of days with the Scouts up at Camp Loll and sent over a few pictures when he got back to Logan - not much accompanying narrative, but some good pictures (Stu did put a bit more description up on http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/ishare/100002234.html). So, here you go...

Lake of the Woods at Camp Loll in Wyoming

Some of the boys at the swim check in the glacier fed Lake of the Woods.

Even Paul Sillibourne had to do the swim check.


Fred, Alex, and Garrett working on the camp sign.

Alex roasting a marshmellow.

They're Off!

Lining up for a 5:00 head check and role call.

Waiting for the departure to Camp Loll.

Greetings all you blog fans! Randy Martin here. After a quick night's sleep all the Brits gathered with the U.S. scouts and an assortment of parents and headed out for Camp Loll at the bright and early hour of 5:30 A.M. - well, early and perhaps not so bright.

In talking with most of the scouts, they all seemed to have a good weekend with the host families. As Kingsley mentioned, he, Kieran, Fred, and Robert joined us at a local lake on Sunday for some boating and splashing around - the movie below shows a couple of the scouts "tubing" (and screaming) behind the boat.

Also as Kingsley mentioned, updates for the next few days will be sparse as there is no internet access at Camp Loll.

Day before Camp Loll

Tubing (Above) Fishing (Below)

Firstly a picture from the previous evening fishing of myself, Garrett and Kieran. You can proberly tell from our facial expressions that we had not caught a fish in a while.

Today was simply amazing. I am unsure what other host families had planned, but my hosts family took me boating along with a couple of other host families including Kieran's hosts and Rob's hosts. Here we took part in 'Tubing' which is where you are laying on a rubber ring and are being pulled by a speed boat - driven by Randy. At times, the waves made it much harder to hold yourself on the small rubber ring. It was also harder if there was two people at one time as both were clinging on. The day was a new experience for me, and a experience I would not want to forget.

As I previously we are off to Camp Loll in the morning, meaning an extremely early rise. Being at Camp Loll means that I would not be able to write new posts throughout the week, plus while we are at yellow stone. Now its a question of getting to bed to be up at 4! Good luck everyone.

Day two and three

After waking up, after catching up on all those hours of sleep that we had lost previously, we had a few days ahead of us to spend with our host families. One of the activities that I took part in in the day was swimming at a local outdoor swimming pool. Although we do have swimming pools back in England, I found it really enjoyable, especially as the water was warm. However, in the evening we were lucky enough to witness "That Famous Preston Night Rodeo" which was simply fantastic.

The rodeo consisted of eight separate events - all being just as good to watch as each other. The events stretched from bareback riding to bull riding. Personally my favorite event was the bull riding. I have no idea how brave you must be to ride those ferocious bulls but no body would get me on its back. Adding to our evening of entertainment we also got to put another state down that we had visited - Idaho. A late night to bed but it was definitely worth it.

Waking up tho the brightness of the sun shining though the window tells you that its going to be a extremely hot day which we were spending with our hosts. And it was right. The highest the temperature reached was 36 decreases C. I had the experience of looking round a American style farmers market, which I must say I found interesting. Mine and another host family met up for the day and had various activities including having a fabulous BBQ. For the very first time I tried elk meat and it was lovely. In the evening we all traveled up to Idaho to fish. A first time for me. Apart from Randy, Garrett caught the most fish out of the scouts with a total of 12 - impressive.

Just a overview of the next few days are as follows. Tomorrow we have another day spent with our host families, before an early start Monday morning for the start of Camp Loll.

Arrived!

Hello, its Kingsley
Well what can I say about our journey to the United States. It started with our group meeting at a very early hour of the morning, resulting in the majority of the group still half asleep. It was then a matter of loading our luggage into the car and getting ourselfs in to the mini-bus for the trip up to the airport. Luckly for us, the traffic was really good. No conjestion meant a clean run through to terminal 3 where we joined the start of what was a very long queue.
Finially we eventually started our 8 hour flight to Chicago. The thought of this wasnt to bad, until we had crossed the atlantic. The last hour just seemed so slow.
After the previous flight the thought of sitting on another flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City for 3 hours didnt really seem to bad - especially as the air hostess took a fancy to one of us.
Touching down on the run way was a sigh of releif for most but a goodbye to the air hostess for another.
Troop 1 had designed a few welcome banners, making our arrival a very warm one. The journey from Salt Lake City to Logan was another tiring journey. However the stunning scenery soon took your mind off the time.
Troop 1 had also planned a welcome party, which was a great success. Here we got to meet the hosts family, plus catch up with what has happened over the past year.
Alll of us looked exhausted and felt exhausted which meant after the welcome party was BED!

Preparing for the Visit

Logan Troop 1 Scoutmaster Tom Hogan and a fistfull of other leaders, scouts, and family members have been busily planning and preparing for the upcoming Exchange...only 2 weeks from today! And I have started this blog...to be taken over by one of the Brit's (hopefully).